Despite an increasing amount of online back-up services available, it can still prove a major personal and professional inconvenience to lose data when a phone is lost or stolen. You could potentially lose all manner of valuable data and content.

When a Chinese barman named Zou Bin had his iPhone 4 pickpocketed while sharing a taxi with a stranger in central Hunan province, he faced the prospect of losing 1,000 valuable contacts and other information. In an attempt to have the phone returned to him, he texted the stolen mobile to try and persuade the criminal that he had pickpocketed the wrong person.

Channeling Liam Neeson in Taken and implying that he was a man with many resources and dangerous contacts, Bin wrote, “You can be sure that I will find you. Just have a look through my contacts and you will see who I am. If you are clever, you will send the mobile back to the following address…" According to The Telegraph, Bin informed Chinese media that he was simply bluffing the whole time.

Amazingly, the bluff (sort of) worked. While the thief opted to keep the valuable iPhone for himself, Zou Bin was surprised when he received a parcel, sent to the address he had passed on. Not only had the anonymous criminal opted to send Bin back the phone's SIM card, but he also manually transcribed all the phone's saved 'contacts' - around 1,000 names and numbers all-in-all, written down on 11 pieces of paper.

While he will still have to look for a replacement smartphone, Bin offered some advice for all phone owners, who should always bear the threat of phone loss in mind. "Don’t just give up if you lose your phone," he stresses. "Sometimes bluffing works. But it is also best to save your contacts to your SIM card so you spare the thief some writing".